Factors influencing COVID-19 infection in the countries around the world

This paper aims to analyze the impact of various factors on COVID-19 infection rates across different countries. Data on social, demographic, and economic indicators (comprising 16 variables) from 195 countries, as well as infection and mortality data up to January 8, 2023, were collected. Methodologies including factor analysis, cluster analysis, multiple stepwise linear regression, and random forest were applied. Factor analysis revealed four distinct categories (humanity, vaccination, economics, and living), while cluster analysis identified a total of 14 cluster categories. Results indicated that humanity had the most significant impact on both human infections and deaths, followed by economics, vaccination, and living conditions. Moreover, vaccination protection was found to be limited, with advanced age and poor living conditions identified as significant risk factors for infection.